The prior art discloses boat boarding ladders that generally fall into one of two categories. In the first are ladders that simply hook over the edge or gunnel of a boat for support. U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,758,770, 2,924,291 3,078,955, 3,858,683 and 4,002,223 disclose ladders utilizing this type of attachment. These ladders are often unstable and may slide longitudinally along the edge or gunnel of the boat.
The second category includes ladders which affix to brackets which are permanently secured to a boat. Examples of these ladders are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,637,492 and 4,719,872, which have brackets permanently secured to the back surfaces of boats, U.S. Pat. No. 3,512,609 which has a bracket permanently secured to the top edge of the side of a boat, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,719,989 which has a bracket permanently secured to either a stern platform or the topside of a boat. A particular disadvantage that these boat boarding ladders have is that special brackets or mounts must be installed in order to make the ladders securable to a boat. These brackets or mounts serve the sole purpose of securing the ladder.
Often boats are manufactured with fishing rod holders installed in their gunnels. It is also possible to install these rod holders into gunnels at a later date. The axes of the rod holders are typically orientated such that when a fishing rod is inserted in the rod holders, the fishing rod will extend laterally outwardly and rearwardly from the gunnel. This allows fishing line trailing from the fishing rod to stay clear of the boat when trolling. Consequently, the rod holders must extend downwardly into the gunnels in a forwardly and laterally inward direction to give the desired angular orientation to a fishing rod mounted therein.
The present invention provides a boat mounting ladder that is mountable to either the starboard or the port side of a boat and takes advantage of the preexisting rod holders on a boat.